Our application benchmarks are designed to show application performance results with times being reported in seconds, with lower scores being better. While these tests will show some differences between the drives it is important to understand we are no longer measuring the synthetic performance of the hard drive but how well our test platform performs with each individual drive or RAID 0 setup. The performance of a hard drive is an integral part of the computer platform but other factors such as memory, CPU, core logic, and even driver choice can play a major role in determining how well the hard drive performs in any given task.

Game Load Test

In our World of WarCraft test we measure the time it takes to enter the world with the application timer starting at the character screen when the enter world icon is initiated until the character appears.

The results speak for themselves with the RAID 0 setups offering extremely minor performance improvements in actual game load testing. Our WoW testing occurred at several different points during the day in order to minimize the effects of any server issues. We consistently had a 2% to 3% range of improvement with the RAID 0 setup. However, we could not tell any differences during actual game play with a RAID 0 setup when compared to the singel drive setup.

Our Sims 2 - Open for Business test measures the time it takes to load the initial portion of the game. Our application timer starts when the game icon is initiated until the neighborhood menu appears.

While we witnessed 38% to 50% improvements in our original IPEAK tests in this game but see less than a 3% difference in actual game times. Without a benchmark, these differences are impossible to witness during actual game play. Once again, we see the Raptor RAID 0 setup in front but the 7K1000 scores slightly better in single drive testing.

Game Level Load

Our tests center on the actual loading of a playable level within our game selections.

The Battlefield 2 test measures the time it takes to load the Daqing Oilfields level. Our application timer begins when the start single player icon is initiated and ends when the join game icon is visible.

Once again we see a minimal difference between our RAID 0 and single drive configurations in this benchmark with only a 2% difference in load times between the RAID 0 and single drive systems. In repeated testing it was difficult to discern the differences between the RAID 0 and single drive setups. On a side note, this is one test where the Raptor just "felt" faster than the Hitachi drive although the numbers are very close.

The Company of Heroes test measures the time it takes to load the first Omaha Beach Campaign level. Our application timer begins when the play mission button is initiated and ends when the press any key button is visible.

We see about 2% difference in this game on the initial load screen and throughout testing we could not tell the difference between RAID 0 and a single drive. Once again, a slight difference but nothing near the differences in our synthetic tests.

Our Supreme Commander test measures the time it takes to load the first Campaign level. Our application timer begins when the launch icon is initiated and ends when the commander is visible and stationary on the ground.

We see a 2%~3% difference between our RAID 0 and single drive configurations in this benchmark with no noticeable advantage being noticed during gameplay. Overall, our game testing revealed around a 2% advantage for the RAID 0 setup with the Raptor performing ever so slightly better than the Hitachi drive in most of the benchmarks.

Post Your Comment

26 Comments

RAID 0 only give faster transafer rate of data from/to disk.
It dosent give anything else faster even if you want it. If time for get or put data to disk dosent matter you have to buy a cheaper disk instead. Why weaste money on raptor or Deskstar.

About raid 1, it isnt so good and safe. Accidents has happen with 2 disk system, 1 get failure and raid system transfer same fault to the other disk. In the end its no data on any disk that is usuable. The only tru safe is to have a backup of all data. Sould be taken at least every day. That is what the second disc should be used for and not RAD 1. Reply

I do believe that the main cost of stripping is the risk of failure. For everything though, you get what you pay for: the second drive, and the space associated with having a second drive. It is no harder to backup 2TB in RAID-0 than 2TB of individual drives, if you are going to have that much data, then it is an issue you are going to face anyway. So to me, it comes down to trading off risk of failure, and selected performance gains. I happen to think it is not worth it but I do think it is a matter of opinion (more of a 'to each their own' type of thing). Reply

The bad things you've heard concerning onboard RAID5 was probably performance related, which would most likely be true, since most onboard RAID would not have a good XOR 'engine', unless perhaps some of the server classed boards have them.

As for Matrix RAID, I personally am a bit sceptical, from my limited understanding of it, it basically gives you the ability to do a RAID 0+1 array on two drives. Someone correct me if I am wrong. Reply

I thought last time I already criticized that reviewing the 1TB drive with RAID 0 performance is missing the point, yet you come up with a redux part on the same drive. First of all, I don't care how much Hitachi is paying YOU or AT to pimp this drive(obviously they paid the wrong guy). If you don't understand that comparing a 1TB drive against the raptors are STUPID, you should get your head checked. One is targetted at the MASS STORAGE people(you know, I should spell it out for you, the guys who want 4TB +) and the raptor is targetted at the people as a PERFORMANCE OS boot drive. COMPARING THOSE TWO DRIVES ARE STUPID!

now, if you really need a triple redux on this stupid drive, you should cover power usage, noise, heat, and basically constantly read/write to the 1TB drive to see how long the deathstar will last. Reply

comment that makes me look like an ass? So do you consider all criticisms make people look like ass?

Misunderstanding of Market Segment: Really? Is it me who misunderstood? The whole point I made is that Anandtech shouldn't review the 1TB drive against the raptors because the difference in market segment. 1TB isn't about performance. It's about mass storage. Mass storage drives needs different measurements: reliability(MTBF), RAID 1/5/6 performance, heat, noise, power consumption. OS performance drives(raptors) need those benchmarks: IO, Seek, Sustained write/read, etc. you get the point. Firmwares are tweaked differently for those two opposing sides.

I agree with the poster below you, Don't read the review: Check! To be honest, Anandtech hasn't come out with anything good for a while.(except that AppleTV review) Reply